Marketing Nuggets from Dr. Dan-o

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About Dr. Dan-o

Dr. Dan-o (AKA Daniel M. Ladik, Ph.D) is an Associate Professor of Marketing in the Stillman School of Business at Seton Hall University in northern NJ. His main teaching and research interests include marketing strategy, personal selling and sales management, servant leadership, and digital/social marketing.
Prior to Seton Hall, Dr. Dan-o taught for seven years in the Sawyer Business School at Suffolk University in Boston. Dr. Dan-o earned his Ph.D. in marketing at the University of South Florida in Tampa and holds BS (economics), MA (international marketing) and MBA degrees from Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia.

As we celebrate one of the most festive times of the year, we might also have some down time to “feed our head” (i.e., nuggets!). So I thought I should offer up some nugget recommendations for the winter break just in case you get some “me time.” In addition to books (we all know I love books), I have some smaller “bite size” recommendations beyond books (i.e., Netflix, podcasts, articles, and videos). Beyond the items listed below, one could also go back to see my book recommendations from 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016. If you have a more particular interest, drop me an email and we can go deeper into a specific topic.

To start off with, I wanted to make some recommendations to the students who just wrapped my Professional Selling course. Specifically:

Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth

Thanks for the Feedback: The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well by Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen

Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade by Robert Cialdini

Grit is the ultimate “new-school” professional selling book and is one of my top recommendations of all recommendations from the last 5 years. Thanks for the Feedback is masterpiece discussing verbal & non-verbal presentation skills. We talked A LOT about persuasion this semester and of course Cialdini was a central part of the conversation and this is his latest book.

Next up, is a set of book recommendations I picked for myself and I cannot wait to read:

Hit Makers: The Science of Popularity in an Age of Distraction by Derek Thompson

Blockbusters: Hit Making, Risk-Taking and The Big Business of Entertainment by Anita Elberse

The Brain is a storytelling book and storytelling is a research topic that is near and dear to my heart. Also note, there is a DVD set of this book with the same title since it was 6-part PBS series. Presence is part persuasion and part motivation book. I’ve heard Amy Cuddy on at least a dozen different podcasts and if you do not have time to read the book, Professor Cuddy has one of the top 20 TED talks of all time. Recently, I heard Larry Robertson talk about The Language of Man on a podcast and I was impressed with the content. In sum, this is a creativity book! In my mind, both Hit Makers and Blockbusters explore a similar question – what is interesting? Its not east to “get outside the box” and both of these books talks specifically to how to be different in a crowded marketplace.

Perhaps you do not have enough time for a book over the break but you’re still looking for some nuggets?

Netflix Documentaries

Banking on Bitcoin

The Secret Rules of Modern Living: Algorithms

Lo and Behold: The History of the Internet

Podcast Recommendations

How I Built This with Guy Roz

Master of Scale with Reid Hoffman

HBR IdeaCast

Hidden Brain with Shankar Vedantam

Finally, I would like to speak directly to the students in my Spring 2018 Digital Marketing class. Here are a few recommendations specifically for you:

In the fall of 2003, my Department Chair asked me to create “some kind of e-marketing course” because all the students were talking about the Internet so I happily did for the Spring 2004 semester. Even though the syllabus had some sort of official business school title (the title as changed multiple times since 2004), I call this experience the “Dr. Dan-o Course” as it was entirely dreamed up inside of my head.

I love this course and I’ve taught it at least once per year since I created it. Each time, I take a deep dive into the cutting edge and make changes, adding new articles and topic areas. This year, 25% of the articles are new (click this link Dr. Dan-o Class) to check out the revised reading list. For those of you who not have this experience, I’m sure there will be at least a dozen or so articles on this syllabus that you will love.

It was a roller coaster of a Super Bowl both on the field and in the commercials off the field. Given our current political climate, it was not surprise that the dominant theme of the evening was “unity” – starting from the pre-game rendition of “American the Beautiful” with the added “sisterhood” after “brotherhood” to Lady Gaga with the halftime show to Hyundai’s excellent 90 second post-game spot with the soldiers in Poland. There were some laughs – I really liked the “Skittles” spot as well as Kia’s with Melissa McCarthy but humor did not rule the night. Although creative and unique, even humor king Bud Light went more “Ghost of Christmas Past” with their interesting and on message (but not funny) “Ghost of Spuds” spot.

I had a blast on Twitter with a number of professors ranking the ads. We missed the humor; the Super Bowl is a party and people expect humor but largely, we agreed there were 5 or 6 standout spots. I had Kia, Audi, Buick, Mr. Clean, and 84 Lumber in my top 5. Skittles, Alfa Romeo, and BAI were also strong and noteworthy. If you missed any, check out the USA Today Ad Meter ranking.

I was also impressed the interplay between social and the super bowl spots. Mr. Clean did a great job digitally interacting on social before their ad aired. The same could be said for Hyundai and their social media teasers prior to their excellent post-game ad. Intel also gets a big thumbs up for their half time drones that they promoted via social. However, some integration did not work out as well as the Square Space ad was flat, unless you saw the pre-super bowl teaser online first.

That’s a wrap folks and we’ll see if these ads and their themes last throughout 2017.

As a professor, nothing makes a teacher happier than to see your students do well. (Thanks LinkedIn for all those career updates). I have been very fortunate to have numerous standout students over the years, especially during my time at the Stillman School of Business at Seton Hall University. Former student Brad Childs was the first Stillman School of Business valedictorian during my SHU tenure and I was hoping Stillman would have another.

I am happy to say lightening as struck again as Noel Girgenti was the valedictorian to the Seton Hall class of 2016. I had the pleasure to be one of Noel’s 38 plus professors (Noel was in two of my classes and is now a Stillman MBA Student) during her time at Seton Hall. I was so impressed listening in the audience as Noel touched on themes such as passion – servant leadership – humility – selflessness and most interesting – home – as Seton Hall is part of her community – her home. Well-done Noel…well done…

But don’t take my word for it, as it is best for Noel to speak for herself. Noel, the floor is yours…

Good morning, Archbishop Myers, Members of the Board of Trustees, Members of the Board of Regents, Provost Robinson, deans, faculty, staff, clergy, family, friends, and our Class of 2016! Today we look back, but tomorrow we move on. We reflect on who we were and look forward to who we will be. We remember our times strolling through campus – vigilantly avoiding contact with the seal so that our famous superstition did not keep us from graduating, seeing the Green filled with our friends on the first beautiful day after a long winter, and rubbing the Pirate’s foot in front of the Rec Center to hopefully receive some good luck before midterms and finals started. Walking through campus now, the very sight of the buildings burst with memories that bond us to Seton Hall. In these places, we cried away our troubles, we laughed until we cried, we converted strangers to lifelong friends, we learned the meaning of adulthood, and we experienced the most impactful moments of our lives here. Above all, we became pirates!

However, this begs the question: what exactly does being a pirate truly mean at this special place? Is it the never-ending pursuit for glory and riches? Or is it the insatiable passion to serve others with humility and selflessness? Seton Hall embodies this passion, thus forever changing our definition of the word because of our community… because of our home.

When we first embarked on our journey 4 years ago, there was insurmountable pressure to know our destiny. None of us knew if we would graduate a better person than the high school versions of ourselves, as it was virtually impossible to predict exactly who would be sitting in these chairs today. Arriving at Pirate Adventure before Freshman year even began, this stimulated our hunger to grow and change even as fear crept up inside. That fear has now transformed. Whenever we travel back to campus after long weekends or breaks, we now mention, without a second thought, that we are going home to the Hall. We say the word home because we became a family comprised of different backgrounds and different places. We all share the same heart, mind, and spirit that no other individual outside of Seton Hall can relate.

Like many of you, with the anticipation of a college and a rigorous curriculum, many questions raced through my mind. What did I actually want to be when I grew up? How could I pick only one discipline to excel in for the rest of my life? Would I need to compromise who I was to make a living? In the humble words of St. Teresa of Avila, “To have courage for whatever comes in life – everything lies in that.” We mustered up this courage and, with guidance, we capitalized on our strengths and found our passions. Our University cultivated our uniqueness, encouraged us to be well rounded, and taught us values that transcend all professions. These same values are exemplified by our professors, peers, faculty, and staff every day. Through their mentorship, we learned how to transform the concept of valuing the individual and serving others through our leadership into practice.

Our education challenged our way of thinking. Our social experiences allowed us to show compassion and sacrifice for others who we just met (although, sometimes those relationships were the ones that grew most in our hearts). Our community informed us how to remain hopeful and faithful to our aspirations and beliefs, while remaining steadfast in our ethics and morals. Whether we are graduating from the College of Arts & Sciences, College of Communication and the Arts, School of Diplomacy and International Relations, College of Education and Human Services, College of Nursing, Stillman School of Business, School of Health and Medical Sciences, or the Seminary School of Theology, our coming of age here allowed us to realize that the “real world” is a place filled with opportunity for kindness and greatness and not as a dreaded dead-end once 9-to-5 becomes a reality.

So, I’m assuming that we’re all here today because we didn’t walk across the seal, right? Well, now we can walk across with confidence and recognize that we earned the right to call ourselves pirates. Every time you notice a Seton Hall sweatshirt or a bumper sticker or our men’s and women’s basketball teams on TV, you know that your community spans far greater than these gates and far greater than the state of New Jersey. You are a part of Seton Hall, where you learned how to flourish and embrace who you are today. And that person is exactly who you were meant to be, a person who yearns for and who will inevitably achieve greatness.

By the end of the day, we become full-time representatives of this University. We are Seton Hall. We are a product of these 4 years and all the lives that have touched us. We carry a part of this institution with us forever. Let us always remember what being a pirate truly means.

On the first day of summer, we need to revisit an annual tradition – finding nuggetworthy ideas from some of the best books out there. This year’s list is a little shorter than previous years (see 2013, 2014, & 2015 book recommendation posts) but it still has some gems nonetheless.

These recommendations are in no particular order – go to Amazon or Google to find further detail on these books. If you have a more particular interest, drop me an email and we can go deeper into a more specific topic.

ENJOY!

Dr. Dan-o

Book Recommendations

Originals: How Non-Conformist Move the World by Adam Grant

Professor Grant is a rising star among academics and this book is further evidence he’s an out-of-the-box thinker. The Washington Post did an excellent interview and book preview you should check out. I bet you order the book before finishing the Post article.

GRIT: The Power of Passion AND Perseverance by Angela Duckworth

I first heard of Grit in an interview with Professor Duckworth on the TED Radio Hour podcast (Is Having Grit the Key to Success?). I’ve read Professor Duckworth’s academic articles and I’ve even used one of her Grit measure in a data collection effort. I can’t wait to read this one.

The Third Wave: An Entrepreneur’s Vision of the Future by Steve Case

Former co-founder and CEO of America Online, Steve Case is accustomed to taking a 500-foot view of trends many times throughout the years. For those of us who have heard my discussion of the Web 1.0 era vs. the Web 2.0 era, I am always on the lookout for the 3.0 era. In a ReCode Decode podcast interview, he made a compelling case we are in a new era. I’m going to read the book and decide for myself.

As the Director of the MBA Program of the Stillman School of Business at Seton Hall University, I am always looking for new ideas. I hope this book will provide a few nuggets I can use in the MBA program.

There is no question that marketing is becoming more “metric orientated” – “data driven” – “analytical” in nature. At the same time, finding a good guide for the non-PhDs is few and far in-between. I hope this book is one I can use on both the undergrad and grad levels.

Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics by Richard Thaler

I’m a big fan of Professor Thaler and his book Nudge is on my 2013 book recommendation list. I’m also a big fan of Audible and I’m listening to this book right now.

Curious: The Desire to Know and Why Your Future Depends On It by Ian Leslie

It’s too easy to see this book as a “parenting” book (and yes it’s an excellent book for nuggets on how to raise your kids) but I see this book as an “innovation” or “creativity” book. As we all know, I am a big fan of storytelling and this is also an excellent storytelling book. I’m currently reading this one right now.

The Moral Molecule: How Trust Works by Paul Zaks

This is the first book on the list I already competed. Professor Zaks’s nickname is the “Vampire Economist” and his research goal is to find the master switch to human behavior. The book is excellent and he’s very creative on how he sets up his studies (yes, they involve blood samples). Again, I am a big fan of storytelling books and this is also an excellent storytelling book. Anyone interested in ethics and ethics research would also enjoy this book. When you get a chance, check out his very interesting TED Talk.

It’s too easy to find companies who are not market orientated (Yahoo, Twitter, Intel); the same cannot be said for those few firms who are outward-looking and thoroughly understand how to be externally orientated towards the market. (A complete description of market orientation can be found here).

While listening to the Re/Code Decode podcast with Kara Swisher, I am convinced that Warby Parker with their co-CEOs Dave Gilboa and Neil Blumenthal have created a truly market orientated company. Eyeglasses are an analog product from the analog world, however, co-CEOs Dave and Neil completely understand their customers, found ways to create value using digital technologies vis-à-vis their direct competitors and run a flat organization with incredibly strong inter-firm communication. I mean how theory Y is it to have co-CEOs!

This is something to check out today – along with Re/Code’s other excellent podcasts Re/code Media with Peter Kafka, Too Embarrassed to Ask with Lauren Goode and Kara Swisher, and finally Re/Code Reply.

Of all the interesting stories from what seemed like a low-key Apple keynote event, I thought Liam – the iPhone recycling robot – was the most interesting. Liam was introduced by Lisa Jackson, VP of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives, during the CSR portion early in the keynote. (See major Mashable feature here).

Liam can disassemble an iPhone 6s in 11 seconds, meaning the 29-armed warehouse-sized robot can recycle 350 iPhones an hour or potentially, 1.2 million iPhones a year (although Liam doesn’t work on weekends). While some are skeptical that the Liam prototype “doesn’t scale,” is limited to the 6s, or is too small of a percentage of Apple 230 million iPhones sold last year to be meaningful, I think this a classic head fake in Apple’s future plans.

In sum, Apple has not been in the final assembly business for their products in a long time (except the super high end – low volume Mac Pro). If Liam can disassemble an iPhone in 11 seconds, how long will it take it to assemble an iPhone? Is the Liam prototype more about Apple’s environmental plans or more about Apple learning to manufacture again? Apple can dramatically reduce their carbon footprint in the supply chain if they do final assembly in their major markets instead of shipping everything out of China. Don’t forget that Apple is also working on a car. Is the robotics and engineering that when into Liam something that can be applied to autos?

It may be the case that we will be able to look back at that 3-minute preview in the keynote and a 60 second video and say “Yup, Apple can do that…they showed us that Liam prototype 3 or 4 years ago.”

It’s been a blitz of a year outside of DigNuggetville as I started a number of new things – yet, the blog is still humming along. In the past 4 years, DigNuggetville hit:

-302 posts

-59,715 sessions

-48,764 unique visitors

-69,158 page views

Not bad…it’s a start. Perhaps some day I can do those numbers in a year (well maybe not the “posts” number) but I’m happy nonetheless.

As for those “new things” from the past year, one of the most interesting is co-hosting a podcast titled:

The David Diehl Show – Sports, Tech, and a Bunch of Other Stuff with Co-Host Dr. Dan-o – – presented by Today’s Business

The host David Diehl (2-time Super Bowl winner for the New York Football Giants) handles the sports questions and I do the tech questions.

The AskDDShow is a lot of fun (YouTube channel) and has an active community on Twitter and Instragram – send David and I your sports and tech questions @AskDDshow! Episode #3 will be released today.

Finally, as I did with previous Birthday posts, I’m re-posting the “Inaugural Post” below outlining the mission and goals for DigNuggetville. This serves as a reminder so I stay on course for the upcoming year.

I hope the summer has been treating us well. For some time now, I have been cooking up the idea for – dignuggetville.com – so WELCOME to the inaugural post.

The number one mission of this blog is to disseminate, distribute, broadcast, circulate, etc., nuggets. As you recall, nuggets are takeaways – a kernel of information you would like to stow away for future use.

Now in class, I made you record things in your journal (and yes I know a few of you out there still keep your journal alive). Either way, I want to continue our conversation and share more nuggets.

The recording of nuggets is strongly rooted in learning theory and is the foundation of my teaching philosophy. Broadly speaking, the main thrust of our discussion will involve (but not limited to) my main areas of interest:

Marketing Strategy

Marketing Research

Servant Leadership

Web 2.0/Social Media

Personal Selling and Sales Management

Consumer Behavior

Books/Business Media Recommendation

Networking (e.g., the old fashion face-to-face kind, as well as, the newer social media kind)

Most importantly, I would like to hear from you. If you are having a problem at work or want to talk through a career related decision, these are things I help out former students colleagues with on a weekly basis. In summary, if there is something you would like to ask, please post a question.

Things tend to slow down during the summer and I always take the opportunity to load up on some excellent new books. We need to learn – we need feed our heads with takeaways (I like to call them nuggets) to create our knowledge base. Books are excellent learning tools (please see the previous 2013 and 2014 Book Recommendation posts) but this year I have some non-book recommendations as well. Welcome to the 2015 Summer Book (and a bunch of other stuff) Recommendation List!

These are in no particular order – go to Amazon or Google to find further detail on these items. If you have a more particular interest, drop me an email and we’ll go deeper into a more specific topic OK.

ENJOY!

Dr. Dan-o

Book Recommendations

Talk Like TED: The 9 Public-Speaking Secrets of the World’s Top Minds by Carmine Gallo – This book is truly excellent (I finished it a month ago) and is perfect for all my past and present Professional Selling students. This might be the best one-stop-shop for learning verbal and non-verbal presentation skills.

The Small BIG: Small Changes that Spark Big Influence by Steve J. Martin, Noah J. Goldstein, and Robert B. Cialdini – Professor Cialdini is the godfather of persuasion research and anything with his name on it has to be nuggetworthy. His masterpiece Influence: Science and Practice (on the 2013 list) is the best persuasion book every written.

The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything by Ken Robinson – I’ve been hunting for a book that can define Passion for sometime and this one is solid. He does a mean TED talk as well.

Slim by Design: Mindless Eating Solutions for Everyday Life by Brian Wansink, Ph.D., – What can I say? I’m a little thick around the middle and I need some nuggets from Professor Wansink who in my eyes is the model academic. Not only is he fantastic in the classroom, he also writes rigorous double-blind peer-reviewed research in the top academic journals in addition to, incredible popular press books based on his research. Now that is how it is done!

Thanks for the Feedback: The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well by Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen – For those of us who manager people – this is a book for you. For those of us you who depend on the evaluations of others for promotion – this book is for you.

Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration by Ed Catmull – This is certainly the best leadership book written in the last year (period) and it might be one of the best leadership books of all time exploring innovation at creative firms – WOW.

Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World by Gary Vaynerchuk – this is Gary’s third social media book and it’s a good primer for those getting started in social/digital marketing (hint, hint Fall 2015 Direct Marketing/Social Media students).

Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader by Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli – It wouldn’t be a Dr. Dan-o book recommendation list without something about Apple, correct? This book is a very interesting read and is a good yin to Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs yang. Schlender paints a very different picture of Jobs and spent significantly more time, as well as, time periods with Jobs compared to Isaacson’s 18 to 24 months.

CD/Audio Course

The Art of Storytelling: From Parents to Professionals by Hannah B. Harvey, Ph.D., (from the Great Courses) – I love storytelling and this 4-disk set is very, very comprehensive.

The New Yorker Articles

I’m a HUGE fan of the New Yorker magazine. While the topics can range to almost anything (truly anything), whatever lands in the magazine is done with amazing detail (i.e., New Yorker articles are more book-like than magazine-like). Here are some of my favorites from the last year or so (with links!).

I can clearly say that podcasts have been my #1 go-to source for picking up nuggets in the last two years. Moreover, podcasts are excellent when you’re doing mindless activities like commuting or cutting the grass. You can find these in iTunes or any of your favorite podcast players (i.e., Stitcher, Overcast). Here are some of my favorites…

The David Diehl Show: Sports, Tech, and a Bunch of other Stuff with Co-Host Dr. Dan-o – presented by Today’s Business – Of course my favorite podcasts is the one I helped create. David is an excellent friend and host and with Today’s Business, we created something unique that intersects the sports and tech world!

The HBR Ideacast – for those of you who had me in class – we read A LOT of Harvard Business Review articles. This podcast is on par with those articles…

Stanford’s Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders – It is absolutely amazing the caliber of speakers who appear on this show. I bet 50% of the books I purchased in the last two years are from ETL speakers.

Social Media Marketing with Michael Stelzner – This is probably the best “how-to” social media podcast out there…

The Marketing Companion Podcast with Mark Schaefer and Tom Webster – Since this podcast launched, I have not missed an episode…

NPR TED Radio Hour with Guy Raz – Spectacular! I also purchase a number of books from TED speakers. The other huge bonus with this podcast is it features multiple TED speakers on a similar theme. In other words, you get more nuggets from more people in a shorter amount of time…brilliant!

The Torch – presented by The Great Courses with host Ed Leon – from physics to history to business, The Great Courses has it all…

The Talk Show with John Gruber – the best Apple/tech podcast (period!) – the only Apple podcast that is influential enough to have Apple Sr. VP of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller as a guest.

Documentaries (try Netflix or Amazon Prime)

Both of the following documentaries explore the “dark side” (AKA user privacy) of the social media world.

It’s been a long and winding road since I started the DigNuggetville blog in August 2011. Reflecting back, there is a lot to be happy about but particularly, DigNuggetville as remained focused on its mission since Day 1:

“The number one mission of this blog is to disseminate, distribute, broadcast, circulate, etc., nuggets. As you recall, nuggets are takeaways – a kernel of information that you would like to stow away for future use.”

Going forward, I do not see the mission changing anytime soon. If there were one thing I would like to do more of in the next 100 posts, it would be more “nuggets” from the DigNuggetville community. Bradley Childs’ 2013 Seton Hall valedictorian speech is not only in the Top 10 of all time, its #1 (with a bullet!). Jenny Zhang’s question on the difference between market-driven and market-driving (marketing orientation) is #4 of all time. It would be fantastic to have another two or three posts coming from the DigNuggetville community make it into the Top 10 before I hit milestone post #400.

And now for the big announcement – something worthy of milestone post – How many times in class have I recommended a podcast (or made you listen to one because it was part of your grade)? There has to be dozens of podcast links in the previous 299 posts on DigNuggetville. So….

Dr. Dan-o is the co-host of a new podcast that will launch in the next week titled:

The David Diehl Show – Sports, Tech, and a Bunch of Other Stuff with Co-Host Dr. Dan-o – – presented by Today’s Business

Much thanks goes out to 2-time Super Bowl winner for the New York Football Giants and host of the podcast David Diehl. David is busy dude (NY Giants broadcast booth, Fox NFL Game Analyst, Sirius XM radio, even an extra in the new Entourage movie) but he still has time to hang out and have fun with the podcast. Extra thanks goes out to Tom Ottaiano (CEO) and Chaz Cervino (CCO) of Today’s Business for coming up with the idea for the podcast. Tom and Chaz have guest lectured in my classes, hired former Dr. Dan-o students for internships and currently have a former Dr. Dan-o student as a full-time employee – Brent Eppley who also happens to be the production manager (AKA Prime Minister) of the AskDDShow.

The AskDDShow is going to be a ton of fun! Follow us on Twitter and Instragram @AskDDShow and send us your sports and tech questions!